The Chronicle of Fredegar (4.70) records how Rothari, king of the Lombards in Italy (636-52), was raised to the throne after swearing oaths of fidelity at the 'places of the saints' to Queen Gundeberga, which he later 'forgot'. Written in Latin in Gaul/Francia, 659/700.
E08384
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Chronicle of Fredegar, 4.70
Gundeburga regina, eo quod Langobardi eidem fidem cum sacramentis firmauerant, Chrothacharium quidam unum ex ducibus de terreturio Brissia ad se uenire precepit, eum conpellins uxorem quam habebat relinquerit et eam matremuniam acciperit; per ipsam omnes Langobardi eum sublimauant in regno. Quod Chrotharius lebenter consenciens, sacramentis per loca sanctorum firmans, ne umquam Gundeburga postponerit nec de honorem gradis aliquid menuarit [...] Gundoberga adtragente omnes Langobardorum primati Crotharium sublimant in regno [...] Chrotharius oblita sacramenta qua Gundeberga dederat eamque in unum cubicoli Ticinum in aula palaciae retrudit eamque ad priuato habeto uiuere fecit [...]
'Queen Gundeburga, to whom all the Lombards had sworn fealty, sent for a certain Rothari, a duke of the territory of Brescia, and compelled him to abandon his wife in order to marry her. She promised that with her support he would be chosen king by all the Lombards. Rothari gladly consented and swore oaths in the places of the saints, that he would never abandon Gundeburga nor impair the honour of her royal rank... The Lombard lords were beguiled by Gundeburga and they did raise Rothari to the throne... He forgot his promises to Gundeburga, for he confined her in a single room in the palace at Pavia and made her live a life of obscurity...'
Text and translation: Wallace-Hadrill 1960, 59-60, lightly modified.
Cult building - unspecified
Non Liturgical ActivityOath
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesMonarchs and their family
Women
Aristocrats
Source
The work known as the Chronicle of Fredegar dates from the second half of the 7th century. There is a long history of controversy over the questions of how many authors were involved in its compilation and precisely when they worked, but the current consensus is that it was produced by a single author working in one of the Frankish kingdoms at some point after 659 (Collins 1996, 83, 91-96).While the first three books of the chronicle largely reproduce earlier sources, Book 4 is mostly an original composition, covering events from 584 to 642.
Discussion
Rothari was the Arian/Homoean king of the Lombards, 636-52; Gundeberga (d. after 653) was the widow of his predecessor Arioald (626-36) and related, according to Fredegar (4.34), to the highest Frankish aristocracy.This passage is one of several in which the Fredegar chronicler reports oaths connected to saints' places (loca) or feast days which were subsequently broken: compare E08379 (Martin), E08385 (Dionysius), and E08386 (unspecified).
Bibliography
Edition and translation:Wallace-Hadrill, J.M., The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar (London, 1960).
Further reading:
Collins, R., "Fredegar," in: P.J. Geary (ed.), Authors of the Middle Ages: Historical and Religious Writers of the Latin West, vol. 4, nos. 12-13 (Aldershot, 1996), 73-138.
Collins, R., Die Fredegar-Chroniken (Hannover, 2007).
David Lambert and Benjamin Savill
01/02/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00518 | Saints, unnamed | sancti | Certain |
|---|
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